


The Hill to Die On

by RubyLipsStarryEyes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angry Hermione Granger, Angst, Angst and Humor, Arguments, BAMF Ginny Weasley, F/M, Humor, Near Death Experiences, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Post-Hogwarts, Rebuilding Hogwarts, Snarky Draco Malfoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22237267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyLipsStarryEyes/pseuds/RubyLipsStarryEyes
Summary: Hermione and Draco are about to die... And this is the hill she chooses to die on.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 8
Kudos: 69





	The Hill to Die On

“No!” Hermione’s screams echoed around the space that had once been a potions classroom. 

“Granger shut up,” Draco hissed, lighting his wand with a quiet, “lumos.” 

Dust was filtering through the air, bits of broken glass and stone littering the ground around them. Hermione could hear the massive stones and heavy debris shifting above them, and she whimpered.A trickle of blood ran down her cheek from a shallow cut, and there were streaks down her face where the grime mixed with her tears. 

Draco was likewise covered in dust, and he had a bleeding gash over his left forearm, his fading Dark Mark obliterated by blood. Otherwise the unlikely pair seemed to be unscathed, much to their relief. 

“What happened?” Hermione’s hands were shaking around her wand as she looked around the space. 

“It would seem that the fucking room caved in,” Draco shot at her sarcastically. 

“No shit, Malfoy. There were supposed to be wards and spells in place to keep it from happening! Hermione was looking at the stonework above them, but couldn’t tell if it was holding together mechanically or magically. 

The repair and rebuild of the castle had only been in progress for several months now, and there had already been multiple cave ins. Though to Hermione’s knowledge, this was the first time that anyone had been trapped by one...

“Oh fuck... Please tell me you told someone you were down here.” Hermione could feel the blood drain from her face as she turned to the blond. 

Draco shook his head, his sneer faltering. 

“Don’t tell me you didn’t either.” A note of fear crept into his voice, his eyes darting wildly around the space that seemed to be closing in on them. 

Hermione shook her head, sending more dust through the air from her curls. She felt lightheaded and dizzy, her stomach revolting and her knees weakening. 

“They’ll check that nobody’s down here, right? Before they write it off? Panic was making the blond’s breaths come in short pants, and the light from the end of his wand shook with his hands. 

“I don’t know!” Hermione knew logically that they probably would, and that there was no way nobody would notice both her and Malfoy missing for more than a couple of hours, but the adrenaline and the weight of being trapped under literal tons of rubble was making her thinking process a bit fuzzy. 

She stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was Hermione Fucking Granger. She made it through a war, and she wasn’t going to die now. She couldn’t die in a room with nobody but Draco Malfoy there. 

“Expecto Patronum!” Silver white mist danced from the end of her wand and dissolved before it hit the ceiling. “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.” She was too scared to cast the charm properly, and she needed to calm down, but the increased respiration rate of the other occupant of her prison was making it hard to calm down herself. 

“Why didn’t it work?” Draco’s panic was escalating to hysteria. 

“Because I don’t want to die!” Hermione pushed back tears. 

“I don’t either!” 

“Then shut up so I can try to let someone know we’re here!” Hermione was crying now. She’d survived a war to die with Draco bloody Malfoy.Because that was just her fucking luck.

Luckily for once, he listened, shutting his mouth and turning away. She took a deep breath, and pictured herself skiing with her parents, hugging Harry and Ron when it was all over, the smell of the library, the feel of her quill dancing over fresh parchment... And him. The countless kisses and the one night they’d shared.

“Expecto Patronum!” A sleek sliver otter shot out of the end of her wand, and slipped through the stones toward the surface, to where the others would be working. To where someone would be waiting. 

“Did it work?” Draco turned around, his grey eyes pleading her in the glow of his wand. She sunk to her knees. 

“I just hope if it did, they get to us in time.” 

Draco went even more pale, sinking down to the floor. 

Minutes ticked by, until over an hour passed. Draco was the first one to break their silence. 

“I’m sorry. For all of it. If we’re going to die in here... You should know how sorry I am.”

“I don’t want to hear it, Malfoy.” Hermione was sitting across the space from him, as far away from him as she could get, hugging her knees to her chest.

Something shifted above them, and she whimpered as more stone shards rained down on them. Draco dove across the space seconds before larger chunks crashed down where he’d been sitting. 

In a moment of desperate fear, Hermione reached out, holding both of his hands in hers. 

“I forgive you. For all of it. I forgive you.” He wrapped his arm around her as more shards rained down, and she cried into his shoulder. 

That’s how they found them. Huddled together, Draco’s arms around Hermione, her face buried in his chest. 

*****

Later that night, Hermione slipped into Draco’s hospital bed, wrapping her arms around him in the dark. 

“Promise me that the next time you fuck up, you don’t wait until we’re dying to apologize you bloody prat.” 

“I promise. And I promise never to go so long without kissing you again.” He kissed her solidly to prove his point. 

“That wasn’t why I was angry with you in the first place,” Hermione objected. 

“No, but I promise it anyway.” 

“How about promising you’ll admit it when you’re wrong?” 

“I wasn’t wrong!” 

“Draco you arse just admit—“

“Granger, shut up.” 

He kissed her, gently this time, until she couldn’t breathe. When they broke apart, she took a deep breath. 

“I still think you hogged the blankets last night.”

“You said you forgave me!” 

“Forgiveness doesn’t mean I’m not right.” 

“Is this the hill you’re going to die on?” 

“I already almost did!” 

“Dammit Granger, I told you your bed was too small—“ 

The curtains were ripped back, light flooding the space. 

“First of all, you’re both magic. Use a bloody silencing charm. Second of all, you’re both magic. Transfiguration is a thing. Third of all, you’re so bloody lucky it was me that was first through that hole, but I swear to Merlin if you don’t shut up and let me get some sleep, I’m going to make you wish you died in that hole.” Ginny flicked the curtains shut, plunging them back into darkness. 

“A silencing charm could be fun...” 

Hermione’s giggle was the last thing that could be heard from their partitioned-off bed. 


End file.
